Mystery Wedding
by Hanspam
Summary: It's a PR wedding, but who's the happy couple?


Mystery Wedding  
  
Summary: I was bored one day, and this is the result.  
  
Rating: Je ne sais pas....  
  
Disclaimer: Everyone knows I don't own anything.  
  
Author's Notes: This was inspired by the excellent fic by Ranko, 'Fifth Sacrament', but it's done in a different way. It's a standalone, and nothing will persuade me to write a sequel, the first part was hard enough!! Thanks have to go to DevDev yet again, for convincing me this was a good idea. And also to Ozmandayus, Sara, Morgan, Didi, The Girl In The Red Jacket, StarryNights, White Tiger and anyone else who has become a victim of my awful memory.  
  
  
Jason Scott woke up on a normal Wednesday morning, at his usual time of 6am. Ever since he had become a lawyer, he'd had to incorporate some sort of routine into his daily life. And, as always. his wife woke up half an hour after him.  
  
After putting a pot of coffee on to brew, he sat down by the Formica coffee table to wait for it. And his normally organized mind drifted into a haze of thoughts against the comforting light of dawn.  
  
In all the times that he had been friends with Trini, he had never given a serious thought to the option of them getting together. They had been friends for twentyone of their twentysix years, and until they were twenty two the friendship had always been strictly platonic. Trini hadn't been committing herself to anyone in particular, and Jason had only just broken up with his girlfriend Emily.  
  
But, as happens with a lot of friends, one thing had led to another, and they didn't want to let go. And after a two-year relationship they had married, back in their hometown of Angel Grove, even though by then they had set up home in LA. Jason made good money as a lawyer, and Trini wasn't doing too badly either, with her job as a meteorologist.  
  
Their minds, and outlooks on life were discovered to be remarkably similar, so much so that they rarely argued. The arguments when they did occur, however, were bitter, although they rarely lasted long, and the making up was always the best part of it. Married life generally treated the well, and Jason's thought's continued in that vein while he made and drank his first cup of coffee, and until they were interrupted by the vision of his dreams shuffling through the kitchen door, with all her hair on one side sticking up while the other was perfectly straight.  
  
"Morning sweetie," Jason said, as Trini planted a kiss on his forehead and swiped his coffee mug to take a quick swig. "What time do you have to be at work today?"  
  
"Not until ten, but I was awake so I thought I might as well get up," she told him. "And when can I expect you home tonight?"  
  
This was a longrunning cause of debate. Jason's often early starts and late finishes meant that they only got quality time together at weekends. In the first two years of married life, that was the last thing that Trini, or Jason for that matter, wanted.  
  
"I won't let them keep me past five tonight," he assured his wife. "It's Wednesday, a slow day. I can't see them wanting me to stay behind."  
  
"I should be back home by six, so you can start dinner," Trini said to him, and left no room for complaints by quickly adding, "Have yo checked the mail yet?"  
  
"But I don't know how to make dinner!" Jason called after Trini as she smoothed her hair and headed outside to check the mailbox.  
  
"Then you'll just have to learn! Preferably before six tonight or there'll be trouble!" Trini yelled back at him, but you could hear the evident smile in her tone.  
  
The only way that Trini knew to describe her feelings towards her husband was true love.  
  
There had been an instance before in her life, when at the tender age of nineteen, Trini had believed she had found her soulmate. He'd been a guy in her basic meterology class, but it had only lasted six months before the end. As did the relationship after it.  
  
In one night, Jason had restored her faith in the opposite sex. Andhe still continued to do so.  
  
Except, as she gave him an envelope to open, and he perused the contents, he looked as white as a sheet.  
  
"Baby, what's wrong?" Trini asked as she sat back down. Jason was paying no regard to the fact that he should be getting ready for another routine day at work.  
  
"Has anyone ever mentioned someone called Ann Morris to you before?" he asked.  
  
Trini thought for a moment, then drew her eyebrows together and said, "No, not that I can think of. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Because Tommy's getting married to her on Saturday," Jason proclaimed, handing her an elegantly embossed card.  
  
"What?" Trini yelled, grabbing the card out of Jason's hand in her hurry. "You are kidding me, this Saturday? And who the hell is Ann Morris when she's at home?" She scanned the card, then practically threw it onto the table. "I thought he and Kim were back together, they were certainly friendly enough at our wedding."  
  
Jason laughed at the memory. "Half the time they avoided each other, and then we didn't see them for the rest of the night." His face grew serious. "But when you stop and think about it, we never had any concrete proof that they got together. And if they did it couldn't have worked out."  
  
"You'd better ring him and tell him we're going," Trini advised. "I think there's a phone number on the back."  
  
"I'll do it when I'm at work," Jason told her, "and where a man can get a cup of coffee without it being stolen from under his nose."  
  
Trini raised her cup- previously his. "Here's looking at you, babe."  
  
  
*Jason's Office*  
  
Jason chose to ring the telephone number -which, from the look of it, was a cell phone- during his lunch break. He hoped it would be his old friend that answered on the other end of the line, the prospect of talking to someone that he didn't even know existed til six hours ago was not a prospect that filled him with excitement.  
  
Luckily, the gods were shining down on Jason Lee Scott that day. "Hello?"  
  
"Ah, the prospective husband himself, I see," Jason said by way of greeting. "Is there any explanation of why we only got your invitation today?"  
  
Tommy laughed. "Blame the American postal service, my friend. And the fact that I couldn't remember your address. So, can you come?"  
  
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. But why no mention of the lucky lady before today?"  
  
There was the slightest of pauses on the other end of the line before Tommy replied. "Well, you and I haven't been in close contact recently, and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. You haven't been so inquiring about my love life since you acquired yourself a lovely lady."  
  
If his friend could have seen him, Jason would have thrown his hands up in guilty admittance. "You got me. And Trini says to tell you hello."  
  
"Hello back at her. Do you think you can get down to Angel Grove early enough on Friday evening to get to the party down at my parents place?"  
  
"I should think that would be possible," Jason confirmed, not even bothering to take a look at his diary. Despite his reservations about the choice of bride, Jason would do all he could to attend. "And? I am under strict instructions to keep you talking until you reveal whether you re-united with a certain ex-pink wearing lady who's name isn't Katherine, specifically at our wedding, and what happened. Oh, and what Ann is like. I almost forgot."  
  
No pause this time, instead a sigh replaced it. "Yes I did get together with Kim at your wedding, we dated for about three months before it all went wrong again. Ann is...perfect." And nothing but the tone in his friend's voice could have convinced Jason that the woman he spoke of was 'the one'. "Tell Trini that's all she's getting, so she'll have to be satisfied."  
  
Jason shrugged. "Okay then. What time are we expected at your folk's house?"  
  
"Whenever you can get there. There's no rehearsal or anything," Tommy informed him. "We didn't have the time for a big wedding."  
  
"Will do. See you then."  
  
"See you, bro."  
  
  
After hearing the information that Jason had gleaned, Trini was confused.  
  
"How could they have broken up again? That makes no sense! That defies every single scientific law!!"  
  
"Calm down, honey," Jason soothed, rubbing her back as they sat on the comfortable, over-stuffed sofa in their den. "The way he said she was perfect... well, it's the only way he could have convinced me that it was real. And it's really hard to describe, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were as likely to be made for each other as he and Kim were."  
  
Trini just scowled, still not convinced. "I don't like it, Jason. If he'd met someone and it was serious, no matter how badly we'd fallen out of touch, he'd have told you."  
  
"He didn't say anything about the Kim thing," Jason reminded.  
  
"No matter. I'm going to ring Kimand get her side of the story. Maybe she'll be more forthcoming."  
  
All protestations by Jason about cans of worms went unheeded, but as it turned out Kim's phone had been disconnected.  
  
"I wonder if she'll be there on Friday night," Trini wondered, reluctantly returning to the safe cocoon of her husband's arms. "Or if she was even invited. I wouldn't be surprised if they split on bad terms again."  
  
"How did you get all that from a two minute conversation?" Jason asked, looking at her in amazement. Trini simply laughed and told him,  
  
"It's not that hard. He refused to say more than the bare essentials, yes?" Jason agreed. "So he's either hurting, resentful, bitter or hiding something."  
  
"Or it's a general guy thing, where we don't share feelings or details for fear of losing our masculinity," Jason disagreed.  
  
A simple roll of her eyes was enough to convey Trini's feelings on that subject. "If you say so. But I still believe that he's going to regret getting married to this Ann woman. He hasn't even introduced us yet!!"  
  
"But you forget," Jason said, fingers lightly skating across Trini's shoulders, "that we haven't exactly rushed to get in contact with him either. Which he didn't hesitate to point out."  
  
"Well, roll on Friday," Trini sighed. "I can't wait to meet and greet the happy couple."  
  
  
*Friday evening, 7:45 pm*  
  
Tommy's parents lived in a big house in the suburbs of Angel grove, and the garden at the back was extensive. When Jason and Trini walked into the vast area of space, they found what looked like close to one hundred people taking food from the buffet tables that lined one side of the grass, talking to long lost friends, or generally hanging out.  
  
"So, who here do we recognise?" Trini asked as she and Jason navigated the steps down to the garden arm-in-arm. Even now, she had immense pride in being his wife at events like these. It made her feels secure, special, and most of all, loved.  
  
Jason's eyes roamed around the garden and came up with, "Not a one. I don't even see Zack or Rocky around."  
  
"And the view from my side reveals no blushing bride and groom."  
  
"Not a one from my angle either. Shall we get something to eat?"  
  
Trin thought, then said, "I really need to stretch my legs more. Two hour drives do nothing for my circulation."  
  
Any jibes about how walking around would improve their chances of catching a glimpse of Tommy and Ann were interrupted by a joyous proclamtion of "So you guys made it!" from Rocky and Adam, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere to stand behind them.  
  
After the usual greetings and "So how's married life treating you?"'s, Trini asked the pair,  
  
""Have you guys actually met the bride?"  
  
Adam snorted while smiling inexplicably, and Rocky rolled his eyes. "You must be joking. The first either of us knew about this was about four days ago."  
  
"Two days for us," Jason said. "What about the house? There might be pictures around or something."  
  
Adam shook his head. "I had a quick glance as we came through, and couldn't see anything. She must be something special for all this secrecy."  
  
"Or she could resemble something that had been run over by a very large truck," came Rocky's contribution. Off the incredulous looks on his friends faces, he defended himself with, "What? They might not want any pictures!"  
  
Trini ignored the offensive potential of his comment, and just chose to smile. Rocky never really changed through time, he was still his old, exuberant self.  
  
"Is anyone else expected?" Jason asked. "If everyone else of us got such short notice as we did, then a lot of them wouldn't be able to get back in time."  
  
Adam counted on his fingers "I very much doubt that Billy would be here, Aisha definitely couldn't get here, she couldn't get a flight out in time. Tanya will be here in time for the wedding, and I have no idea about the other people in our old gang."  
  
"What about Kim?" Trini asked as the quartet drifted over to the array of food, unconsciously following Rocky's crafty lead.  
  
Adam sighed. "I don't even know if they invited her. I only found out who was likely to be here from David, who heard it from Tommy."  
  
"Did they really get back together at our wedding?" was Trini's next question as plates were taken and food gathered. "A certain Mr Oliver was less that forthcoming when questioned."  
  
"Yeah, but then she kinda dropped out of the picture," was Rocky's somewhat distracted response. "Whenever I talked to Tommy he never mentioned her. And if I rang Kim she wouldn't talk about it, so I just assumed that they'd split as quietly as he and Kat did."  
  
Trini and Jason exchanged curious glances. This whole event became stranger and stranger as more information was gathered.  
  
And as more people continued to wander in, a quick, noncommital glance to the patio area by the entrance to the garden revealed that Kim was quietly slipping into the picture.   
  
"Looks like she's decided to come along after all," Jason said quietly to Trini, Adam and Rocky as he raised a hand to wave Kim across to their little gathering. She met his gaze, gave a tiny half-smile and came over to join them.  
  
"Kim!" Trini said. Her joy at seeing her best friend was genuine; these days their communication was restricted to e-mails and hurried telephone calls.  
  
"Hey, you guys," Kim said, hugging each of them in turn. "Anything interesting happen yet?"  
  
"Define interesting," Rocky asked, biting into his third mini-pizza.  
  
"Punch-ups, fights between relatives, that kind of thing," Kim said. "The kind of things that make going to your ex-boyfriend's wedding gathering worthwhile."  
  
"We haven't seen the happy couple yet even," Jason admitted. "You've just arrived, right?"  
  
"You could say that," Kim said.  
  
"Wait no longer, one of the happy couple is making their way over here at this very moment," Adam said. "Although from the looks of it, he's without his soon-to-be blushing bride."  
  
Jason noticed that Kim made a slight face at the mention of both Tommy and Ann, but other than that her expression was poker-straight as tommy joined their own impromptu soiree.  
  
"And where's the lucky girl?" Rocky demanded before the former White Ranger could say a word. "Don't tell me she's walked out on you before the wedding?"  
  
"Hardly," Tommy said, unable to stop a smile from escaping his lips. "She's not here yet. Her parents couldn't get down here so she went to see them. There must be traffic though, because she isn't back yet."  
  
Kim couldn't resist saying under her breath, "What a shame." Only Trini heard her friend's resentful comment, and it made her debate just how much unfinished business there was between the so-called 'perfect couple'.  
  
"Kim, you never RSVP'd," Tommy suddenly remembered, his memory five minutes behind him as usual. "I didn't think you were coming."  
  
"I'm going back to San Fransico tonight," she said in a low voice, eyes on the ground.  
  
"You won't be at the wedding?" Tommy said in confusion. Rocky, Adam, Trini and Jason traded glances. This had the potential to get nasty...  
  
"Remind me again why I would ever want to attend your wedding?" Kim asked.  
  
"Maybe because we were friends before anything else?" Tommy reminded her. "I can't believe you're not coming."  
  
Kim raised her gaze from the grass below her feet to her ex-lover's eyes, and felt a fleeting pang of sympathy. But it was gone almost before it had arrived, and she was able to say in a steady voice, "You'd better believe it. Because I won't sit there and watch someone else walk up the aisle to marry you."  
  
At least now we know what _she's_ feeling Trini thought. But what of Tommy?  
  
But any response that Tommy may or may not have made was not destined to see the light of day. His mouth was open to respond to Kim's comment when his mother made a presumably welcome interruption.  
  
"Tommy honey, can you talk to your friends later? Aunt Sally and Uncle Andrew are about to go back to the hotel, you should say goodbye to them before they go." A last frustrated glance at Kim, and Tommy obediently followed his mother back into the house, leaving Trini, Adam, Rocky and Jason behind with no clue of what to say to Kim, who seemed to be perfectly composed against all the odds.  
  
"Kim, are you really not going to be there tomorrow?" Trini asked.  
  
"You should come," Rocky advised, putting his finally empty plate aside and casting his full attention to Kim. "It wouldn't be the same without you."  
  
"I'm not going. I can't stand that bitch," Kim said, letting the anger she felt shine through. "If I was in an enclosed space with her, I'd cheerfully murder her."  
  
Adam's eyes widened almost comically. Was this really the same Kim, who used to be so sweet, and never judged people? He knew she had a reason to be mad, after all this Ann person was marrying her ex-boyfriend, but he had no idea of how deep the scars ran.  
  
And from the looks on his friends faces, they hadn't either.  
  
"You- you've met her?" Trini finally managed to get out.  
  
Kim snorted. "Trini, I was the one who introduced them." A pause followed, where ideas were frantically thrown around in four seperate minds. What had happened? An affair? "And I'm not waiting around here just to see her make a dramatic appearance," she informed them.   
  
"You're going? Kim, come one, stay for god's sake. Surely everything's in the past now," Jason said, trying in vain to recreate the big brother act that had worked so well for so many years. "You've still got us, and we don't know who else is going to be here. Who knows, we might manage to salvage a night out of it."  
  
"Kim, stay," Adam urged. But her mind was made up.  
  
"Sorry, but I'm not staying. I wouldn't if you paid me. I don't even know why I came." Kim smiled. "But it was worth it to see you guys again. And I'll be in touch sooner than you think, have fun tomorrow."  
  
And before they could ask how she would be in touch, and continue persuading her to stay, Kim had left.  
  
"Ten bucks say they run into each other inside the house," Rocky said.  
  
"After that crazy encounter, I would say anything's possible," Adam said. "And what I wouldn't give to know the story behind those two's breakup."  
  
"Wouldn't we all," Trini mumbled. "Still, we'd better keep happy faces on for when our old fearless leader and his fiancee make their grand entrance."  
  
  
The awaited grand entrance never came to pass. Tommy reappeared and informed his friends that Ann had decided to go to a friend's house on the way back from her parents and would stay there until morning. The party broke up soon after the announcement, the people who were presumed to be Ann's relatives and friends saw no reason to stay, and Tommy's acquaintances began to make their way back to hotels and homes soon afterwards.  
  
Trin and Jason left for their hotel at a little after eleven o'clock.  
  
"Are you hurt that Tommy didn't ask you to be his best man?" Trini asked her husband delicately. The decision had definitely surprised her, after all Tommy had been Jason's best man two years previously.  
  
Jason considered his wife's question as he navigated the streets of Angel Grove. "Yes and no. Yeah because we've been friends for such a long time and because he was my best man, and no beause we haven't really stayed in contact. I guess he might have someone now who's closer to him than I am now. But who knows? It's not even as though it's a church wedding, he might not have a best man."  
  
"This is true," Trini agreed. "But if there is a best man then I would have thought you'd have been the prime choice."  
  
"Yeah, but we thought he'd get back with Kim and it would last forever," Jason reminded her. "It's no skin off my nose, so let's just leave it alone."  
  
"Whatever you say, oh caveman husband," Trini teased, as the hotel they would be staying in for the next two nights came into sight."  
  
  
*Saturday afternoon, 12.15*  
  
Jason and Trini arrived at the old mansion where Tommy and Ann were getting married fifteen minutes before the bride was due to make her appearance. Neither of them had ever visited Rosewood Lodge before, and it was certainly decorated for the occasion.  
  
An abundance of white roses were arranged on seemingly every surface in the entrance hall, and there were more than a few people already there, in suits and dressed, ready to witness the wedding.  
  
"Ann must be something special," Jason said under his breath as they navigated their way through the maze of people. "Don't you remember Tommy saying he'd rather elope than have a big wedding?"  
  
Trini laughed at the memory, luckily their friend had been single at the time. If either Kim or Kat had been there to hear that there would be hell to pay. "Oh yeah I do, it was when he came around all depressed. That surprised me, but it looked as though he's gone back on it, anyway."  
  
"Shall we go sit down," Jason suggested, as they were swept up in the crowd who were going into the hall.  
  
"I don't think we have much of a choice, but let's," Trini smiled, but their progress what impeded by a hassled-looking usher.  
  
"Please please please tell me you two are Jason and Trini Scott," he said, not waiting for an introduction. "I've only humiliated myself about twenty times looking for you."  
  
Trini raised an elegant eyebrow and Jason looked puzzled, but replied, "Yeah, that's us."  
  
"Fantastic," the blond haired guy said, and handed Jason an envelope. "I was told to give this to you before you got into the wedding room, otherwise I'd be very painfully injured." He was as eloquent with his goodbyes as he was with his greetings, rushing past them and up to the front of the hall, where several men in similar attire were standing, Tommy being one of them.  
  
"Open it before we go in," Trini told Jason, pulling him away from the door so as not to block anyone's way.  
  
"Yes sir, no sir, anything you say sir," Jason grumbled, but opened the envelope with a smile on his face. The smile transformed into a huge grin as he read the letter inside.  
  
Once he'd finished he burst out laughing and handed it to Trini, saying through his laughter,  
  
"How in the world did we not see this coming?"  
  
Trini's curiosity was piqued, and as she read the letter out loud, her laughterand genuine joy broke through also.  
  
  
***The Letter***  
  
To two friends who really should have known better,  
  
Did you honestly believe that we could break up with each other again? It's such a shame.  
  
(And if you're wondering, Ann is my middle name and Morris was my mom's maiden name)  
  
One of us needs a maid of honour, and the other needs a best man...  
  
Hoping you don't kill us, (at least not before we're married)  
  
Kim and Tommy.  
  
  
The wedding passed in a blur, Trin even protesting as she walked up the aisle that she wasn't wearing a proper dress, and still whispering "How on earth did I not remember your middle name?"  
  
But when she saw the way that Jason looked at her, making her feel as though she was the most beautiful woman in the world, all her lingering insecurities went out the window.  
  
And as Kim and Tommy met at the head of the room, Jason managed to tear his gaze away from his wife long enough to notice the look of pure adoration that they shared. It was not unlike a gaze shared between different people at a wedding two years ago. And although both of them were still wondering why Kim and Tommy had chosen to fool them and god knew how many other people, both Jason and Trini had to admit that it had been a very good job.  
  
  
The first chance that Trini and Jason got to confront the happy newlyweds was at the reception, and they took it promptly. There had been no time during the ceremony itself, and they doubted that either of their friends would have paid any attention anyway.  
  
"And what the hell was that?" Trini demanded as they approached their friends, who had been talking to Kim's mother and step-father but were now alone.  
  
"Um, you might not be familiar with the concept, let me run it by you one more time. It's called a wedding, where two people stand up in front of a whole bunch of people and promise to love each other till their dying day. And if you two didn't know that, then what did you do two years ago?" Tommy said.  
  
"And I think we owe you a huge thankyou for that, otherwise we'd still be avoiding each other," Kim said, arm in arm with her husband and smiling.  
  
"But why the secrecy and the whole Ann thing?" Jason asked.  
  
Kim shrugged. "We were bored?" she offered. "And I always needed a chance to prove acting classes were not taken in vain. If you'd ever kept in touch..."  
  
"We'd have known," Trini continued. "Message received. Is that why when I tried to ring you the phone was disconnected?"  
  
Kim nodded. "Yeah, I've been living with this great lump for the past year," she said, trademark grin intact.  
  
"I object to being called a great lump," Tommy said, but the identical smile on his face proved to his friends that there was no truth in his statement. He wouldn't object to being called anything if it was Kim doing the calling.  
  
"Look at it, at least you're a married giant lump," Jason reminded him.  
  
"Who is also an extraordinarly good actor," Trini contributed. "You really had us going there. Were we the only ones?"  
  
"Yup, all 'Ann's' relatives were people from work or distant relatives of Kim's," Tommy confirmed.  
  
"And when I left, I went to my family party," Kim told them. "And you need to save some of that praise for Adam and Rocky as well, their last minute acting skills were great. Tommy only got to them about two minutes before you arrived."  
  
Jason shook his head. "You certainly pulled the wool over our eyes."  
  
"Just get in touch when we get back from our honeymoon," Tommy reminded him. "Or next time to get you to come around I'll have to say Kim was in an unfortunate incident with a jet-ski."  
  
"Yeah, I used it to kill you," Kim said. But any further comments were stopped by the introduction of the first dance. "I think that's us," she said with a somewhat shy smile on her afce, and Mr and Mrs Oliver moved away, still tightly holding hands as if to prove that the other were actually real.   
  
And as 'This Year's Love' played, and the newly wed's gradually became oblivious to everyone around them, Jason murmured to Trini,  
  
"This is the best mystery wedding I think I've been to."  
  
"What about our wedding?"  
  
"Was ours mystery? I think everyone knew who the bride and groom were when they came to ours at least."  
  
"But ours was the best wedding because it was us," Trini said, threading her arms around her husband's waist.  
  
Jason laughed. "Now that I can't deny." 


End file.
